skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Monarch Highway Aims to Bring Monarchs Back from Brink

play audio
Play

Thursday, October 26, 2017   

DES MOINES, Iowa – If you've ever watched the process of a caterpillar becoming a vividly colorful monarch butterfly, you probably have an appreciation for a challenge being issued by the National Pollinator Garden Network.

The Million Pollinator Garden Challenge calls on everyone, including horticulture professionals, schoolchildren and highway officials, to help create and register 1 million pollinator gardens by the end of this year.

Six states, including Iowa, are using the Interstate 35 roadsides to plant pollinator gardens, dubbing the roadway Monarch Highway.

Mary Phillips, senior director of the National Wildlife Federation's Garden for Wildlife program, says monarch populations have plummeted 90 percent in the last 20 years.

"Monarchs are something people identify,” she states. “It's an iconic butterfly that many of us have experienced in our childhood.

“So that's been an amazing motivator to get people to focus and engage around the pollinator issue."

Pollinator declines in general have been extreme in recent decades. Habitat loss, parasites and pesticides are among the causes of pollinator declines.

Phillips notes that a Cornell University study found one-third of all the food we eat is the direct result of pollinators.

I-35 from Texas to Minnesota falls within the central flyway of the monarch butterfly migration.

Phillips says the Garden for Wildlife program helps not only wildlife, but also gives people a daily connection to the natural world, whether people create a garden in the city or the country.

"It's very small to very big,” she says. “Some of these are creating tremendous acres of habitat and others are kind of connecting corridors across urban settings. So, both of those approaches are equally valuable."

Million Pollinator Garden Challenge participants can learn more and register their pollinator gardens online, plus they can take a look at the Challenge Map.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021